This morning, we kicked off the Creating Change marathon with whistles, cheers and rounds of applause for both Discovery employees and nonprofit representatives. “Today really gets to what we love to do at Discovery, which is be creative and do that and give back.” – Michelle Russo, SVP of Corporate Communications.

Gathered in the atrium of our building, we all listened to testimonies from two of our 2011 Creating Change marathon nonprofit partners. Two of the heroes from Hero Dogs shared stories of how the collateral materials Discovery designed for them during last year’s Creating Change marathon have helped build awareness for their organization. Kristalyn Loson from the DC Diaper Bank also discussed the organization’s need to help get the word out about their cause. As a participant in this year’s event, “Christmas has come early to me,” she expressed. “Please go ahead and do whatever you can today, the nonprofits are so grateful.”

As we all headed off to our Creating Change conference workshops, projects and brainstorm sessions, we were energized by James’ final remarks: “I just want to make two promises. To the nonprofit people, we will do the best job we can today and hopefully make you very, very proud. And to the Discovery people, I promise not to steal your cookies.”